After a Couple Of Weeks Of His Party Getting Beat Up On Women’s Issues, Romney Faces Huge Gender Gap

Among women, President Barack Obama leads Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney by 55%-38% in the Economist/YouGov poll (Week of 3/17/2012). That 17-point deficit among women right now is too much for Romney to overcome, as Romney leads Obama among men by 45%-43%.

Right now, it is Newt Gingrich and even Rick Santorum (not so much Romney) who are the real lightning rods for women angry at Republicans in general. For example, among women, Romney is viewed favorably by 36% and unfavorably by 46% of women. By comparison among women, Santorum’s standing is 30% favorable rating and 50% unfavorable, and Newt Gingrich’s standing among women is 22% favorable-60% unfavorable. (Obama is 50% favorable-42% unfavorable among women.)